13.08.2008Female wardrobe wastage - a shocking $8000

Do you have a bursting closet but 'nothing to wear'? That is usually the trigger for a little shopping spree but FatCat has a shocking fact for you; the average wardrobe holds around $8,000 worth of unused or underused clothes. How do you stop this wardrobe wastage?

Eight thousand wasted dollars is no laughing matter, especially if it was racked up as credit card debt. However that’s the calculation of image consultant Janette Saab managing director of Image Consultants who says we repeat this wastage every 6- 8 years! Here are her calculations:

Average cost per article of clothing

$100

Nearly all women own 100 significant items of clothing

$10,000

But they only wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time

$2,000

This is repeated every 6-8 years (minimum)

$8,000 wasted

Nobody in their right mind would knowingly be this financially imprudent (and notice she only allowed $100 per item of clothing so hands up the people with more designer tastes?). Having said that I still have nothing to wear and shopping is fun, so what to do?

The image consultant's view

Amongst Janette's services is a 'wardrobe workout'. Janette comes to your home and literally does a Trinny and Susannah by rifling through your closet. She says for some reason most unused clothes are on the left hand side of the wardrobe (could it be most people are right handed? If so, lefties – look right!).

The first items of wastage are those which no longer fit or have the wrong shape for the current fashion. Janette says these items are often expensive and most of us can't bear to throw them out. If they are in good condition, with quality fabric and suit your colouring - and can be altered or reshaped by a tailor - that's what Janette suggests.